Having learned their target's location, Lu Yang met up with the other two and shared his analysis.
"Judging by Qin Yuanhao's gait and breathing rhythm, his cultivation should be at late Foundation Establishment."
"His residence is just an ordinary courtyard house. It's not particularly large, and there don't appear to be any servants, so he lives alone."
"We'll stay nearby and observe him for a while. First, to study his habits so we won't be totally clueless when questioned after infiltrating the demonic cult. Second, to shadow him and see if we can find the Yanjiang Branch's base."
The barbarian was puzzled. "Qin Yuanhao has so many lackeys. Why don't we just follow them to find where the Yanjiang Branch is?"
Meng Jingzhou rejected the idea, knowing a bit more about demonic cults. "Those men have no cultivation. They may be Qin Yuanhao's underlings, but they aren't demonic cult members. Demonic cults aren't as easy to join as you think. It's up in the air whether those men even know Qin Yuanhao is one of them.
"Still, where are we going to hide to watch him? There are no inns around here, only a few teahouses and taverns. We can drink tea at a teahouse during the day, but what about at night?"
Demonic cults loved operating at night the most.
Lu Yang was also in a bit of a bind when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a teahouse with a 'For Rent' sign hanging outside. His eyes lit up.
"The location of this teahouse is perfect! The second floor can be used to keep watch on Qin Yuanhao. We can rent it and use running a shop as our cover to track his movements!"
Meng Jingzhou nodded, then asked, "What kind of shop should we open?"
"Even if running a shop is a disguise, we have to make it convincing. I'm no good at brewing tea, so keeping it a teahouse is definitely out. An elder in my clan specializes in language-based spells, and I spent some time with him learning the comedic arts of speaking, imitating, teasing, and singing."
Meng Jingzhou showed great professional dedication. "I propose opening a crosstalk hall. I can perform solo crosstalk."
Lu Yang greatly admired the versatile Meng Jingzhou. "However, crosstalk draws a crowd during the day, but there's hardly anyone around at night. Our best bet is a business that runs at night—an entertainment venue, something rowdy where people drink, make merry, and have a good time. That way, we can keep an eye on Qin Yuanhao from the second floor without him ever suspecting us."
Meng Jingzhou blushed as he listened, feeling somewhat hesitant, but even more excited. "A business that operates at night... could it be you want to open..."
Lu Yang nodded. "Exactly. I'm talking about a barbecue shop."
Meng Jingzhou: "...Right, that's what I was thinking too."
Lu Yang's idea was solid. Barbecue was simple and easy to pick up; even with no experience, after charring and burning things a dozen or so times, anyone ought to get the hang of it.
"You can leave the barbecue to me." Man Gu smiled with immense confidence. To prove his capability, he even pulled a sheet of paper from his robes with 'Ancestral Barbecue Secret Recipe' written on it.
That secret recipe looked remarkably familiar to Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. Wasn't this the Ancestral Barbecue Secret Recipe on the sect's exchange board that cost a hundred contribution points?!
Man Gu chuckled honestly. "Back in my homeland, I often roasted wild game myself—black bears, wild boars, little rabbits, and the like. I noticed folks at the Dao Seeking Sect bought plenty of food, but there were hardly any barbecue shops, so I posted my ancestral barbecue secret recipe up there."
Back then, Lu Yang had wondered who had nothing better to do than put a barbecue secret recipe on the exchange board. Turns out it was him all along!
"Did anyone actually buy it?" Meng Jingzhou asked curiously.
Man Gu answered truthfully, "A senior brother told me that after buying the recipe, he went out on a field mission with a senior sister, and he used barbecue to capture her heart."
Meng Jingzhou: "..."
I really shouldn't have asked.
Man Gu smiled faintly. "Besides, running a barbecue shop has another advantage."
"What is it?"
Man Gu summoned two chang ghosts. "I won't even need to do the grilling myself. I can just have these two chang ghosts work the back kitchen, and I don't have to pay them any wages. It's super convenient."
This way, they wouldn't even need to hire shop hands—saving money and keeping things discreet. It was truly a well-thought-out plan.
After tagging along with Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou for so long, Man Gu had indeed picked up a thing or two.
Lu Yang firmly refused to admit that Man Gu had learned this from him.
Man Gu stayed up all night studying his secret recipe. His homeland was out in the wilderness, and many of the ingredients in the original recipe were unique to the wild lands, so he needed to figure out what could be substituted.
"By the way, do you guys eat roasted bugs or grilled cow eyes?" Man Gu suddenly asked.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou shook their heads in unison, advising Man Gu to stick to things ordinary people could stomach.
Man Gu gave an understanding "Oh" and thought it over briefly. First, he was a normal person. Second, he could stomach these things. Therefore, anything he could stomach, normal people could stomach too.
Proof complete.
Man Gu kept a series of regional specialties like roasted bugs and grilled cow eyes on the menu, hoping the folks of Yanjiang Commandery would take a liking to them.
Early the next morning, Meng Jingzhou displayed wealth far beyond ordinary people by buying the entire teahouse outright.
"Hold on, didn't we agree to rent it?" Meng Jingzhou had moved so fast that Lu Yang had not even processed what was happening before the teahouse deed was registered under the three of their names.
Lu Yang looked at Meng Jingzhou in utter astonishment. Our mission will only take a few months—are you planning to run a shop here for the rest of your life?
Meng Jingzhou argued self-righteously, "I only ever use what belongs to me. If I can buy it, I definitely won't rent! Worst case, we just sell it off once the mission is done."
Seeing how generously and promptly Meng Jingzhou handed over the silver, the original teahouse owner briskly packed his things and left.
With the owner gone, a very serious question lay before the three of them—what should they name the barbecue shop?
"I propose calling it Meng the Second's Barbecue Shop," Meng Jingzhou said.
Lu Yang cast a sidelong glance at him and sneered disdainfully, "That name is way too tacky. I propose Three Bowls and You Can't Cross the Ridge Barbecue. Skewers, wine, and then off to the mountain to beat up a tiger. It fits perfectly."
Meng Jingzhou and the barbarian shook their heads together, completely failing to see what was fitting about it.
Man Gu uncharacteristically voiced a differing opinion. "'Three Bowls and You Can't Cross the Ridge' is too long. Why not use our tribe's style and call it Hahaha Barbecue Shop, or Xixixi Barbecue Shop?"
Lu Yang had heard of the wilderness barbarians' naming conventions. Even in the forward-thinking Dao Seeking Sect, such names were considered quite ahead of their time: Hehehe Weapon Shop, Houhouhou Tavern, Aooo Brothel...
"How about Tribulation Transcendence Barbecue Shop?"
"Better yet, Ascending to Immortality Barbecue."
"I think Light Skiff Barbecue works."
"Who on earth gives a barbecue shop such an elegant, poetic name?"
The three of them debated for a while, until they finally had to helplessly acknowledge one cold fact: none of them had any talent for naming things.
"Forget it. Let's each write a name on a slip of paper, roll them into balls, and whichever one we shake out is the winner," Lu Yang suggested, earning the approval of the other two.
Considering that neither Lu Yang nor Meng Jingzhou had entirely pure intentions, letting Man Gu shake the paper balls was the safest choice.
Man Gu cupped his hands together over the three small paper balls, shook them vigorously up and down, and parted his thumbs, sending two of the paper balls flying out.
He unrolled the first one to look. The slip read: "Try Again."
Completely baffled, Man Gu opened the other slip. It read: "Thank You for Playing."
Man Gu: "???"
For a moment, Man Gu's brain simply couldn't process it. Weren't they supposed to be naming a shop, not drawing a lottery ticket... right?
Chapter 54